Expression-device control



J. W. BRYCE.

EXPRESSION DEVICE CONTROL. APPLICATION FILED DEC., 22, 1916.

1,305,191. Patented May 27, 1919.

INVENTOH Y M 61 BY ATTOHN UNITED STATES rxrnrrr OFFICE.

JAMES WARES BRYCE, OF BLOOMEIELD, NEW JERSEY, A-SSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIAN COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

EXPRESSION-DEVICE CONTROL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 27, 1919.

application filed December 22, 1916. Serial No. 138,466.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, JAMES WARES BRYCE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Bloomfield, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Expresslon-Device Controls, of

which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawforming a part thereof.

y invention relates to improvements in remote control for expression devices for musical instruments, andmore specifically for means actuated by alternating electric currents for controlling the expression devices for phonographs, such for example,as

- trol device for alternating currents, by

means of which a person at any desired distance from a musical instrument, may onv trol such an expression device at will.

In order that my invention may be thoroughly understood, I will now proceed to describe the same in the following specification, and then point out the novel features thereof in appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section, of certain parts of a phonograph or" the like, with actuating and control devices embodying my invention applied thereto, the latter being shown diagrammatically.

. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a modified form of sensitive relay which forms a part of this invention. v

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

10 vdesignates the tone arm of the instrument to be controlled, and 11 a part of its sound chamber. 12 is the expression device, in this case a valve arranged to be moved by a rod 13 toward or away from its seat to thereby produce more or less restriction to the size of the sound passage and to thereby vary the volume of sound emitted from the instrument.

The electro-responsive motor is designated generally by the reference numeral '20.

his motor comprlses a pair of similar sole noids 21-22, a common core 23, and a. dash pot 24 connected with the core. 25 is a bell crank lever pivoted at 26 with one of its arms connected with the core 23 by a link 27 and its other arm connected with the valve rod 13 by means of a rod 28 and another bell crank lever 29.

30 is a rod extending rigidly from the bell crank lever 25 in carrying a weight 31 by means of which the bell crank lever and the difierent elements which are connected therewith, may be counterbalanced to a desired extent.

32 is another arm rigidly connected with but insulated from the bell crank lever 25. This carries at its outer end an electrical contact 33 which is adapted to slide over and make electrical connection with various points on a rheostat 34 as the positions of the bell crank lever 25 and of the valve 12 are changed.

40 is a manually operable current-varying or control device which comprises a rheostat 41 similar in resistance to the rheostat 34, a movable contact 42 and an actuating thumb or finger piece 43.

A sensitive relay is interposed between this manual control device and the solenoids 2122. This relay is designated generally.

by the reference numeral 50 and comprises a pair of vertically disposed solenoids 51-52,

for each of which is provided a laminated core 53-54, which cores are suspended by springs 55 and 56. .These springs are each provided with adjusting screws 57-58. 6061 are disks connected with the solenoid cores 53 and 54 respectively and immersed in liquid contained in small receptacles 6263. These parts form damping devices" for the solenoids.

64 is an inverted T-shaped lever. T o the outer ends of the horizontal arm of this lever the cores 53 and 54 are pivotally connected. Its vertical arm carries a pin 65 which projects into a slot 66 in an arm 67 which is pivoted at 68. When the solenoids 51-52 are not energized or when they are energized to exert equal pulls upon their cores, the'parts will assume the pos1t1ons in which they are shown in the drawings, with the slot 66 parallel with the cores 5354 and the springs 55-56. A flexible contact member 69 is connected with but insulated from the arm 67 and extends upwardly therefrom in alinement with the slot 66.

7O designates an alternating current gem erator. circuit extends through a resistance 71 and by branches to and through the windings of 73 and 74, through the manually operable switch 75 to the other main of the generator 70. The other circuit which passes through solenoid winding '52 continues solenoid 52 to some extent.

through a wire 76 to rheostat 41, thence it continues to contact 42 and wires 77 and 74, through switch 75, back tothe other main of the generator 70.

As the number of convolutions in the solenoid windings 51 and 52 are equal the currents passing through these two solenoids will be the same when the contacts 33 and 42 of the rheostats 34 and 41 are in the positions shown, to exert equal pulls upon their cores 53 and 54 so thatthey will'cause the pin 65 to move downward in the slot 66 without aflecting the position of the pivoted arm 67 If the operator now moves the contact 42 over the rheostat 41, the current in solenoid 52 will be reduced thereby,'thus causingthe core 54 to be raised by the spring 56 out of This at once causes the pin 65 to push the lower end of the pivoted arm 67 over to the left and the I flexible contact arm 69 to the right.

80 is a stationary contact against which this flexible contact arm'69 will then move.

81 is a wire from one of the mains of the generator 70 to the flexible contact arm 69. 86

is a wire from the stationary contact 80 to Y the winding of the solenoid 21. The other end of this solenoid winding. is connected by.wires 83 and 84 through switch 75 to the other main of the generator 70. A current i passing through the circuit thus pointed out will cause the solenoid 21 to raise the core 23 and this movement retarded by the dash pot 24 will, through the mechanical connections hereinbefore described, cause the valve 12 to be raised It will, at the same time, cause ontact 33 to be moved over rheostat 34 until an "amount of resistance thereof equal to the amount of the resistance r of rheostat 41 which the operator has put in circuit with solenoid 52'when the effect.

of solenoid 51 upon its core 53, will be reduced to the same amount that'the pull of the solenoid 52 upon its core has been re through solenoid 21 and stopping further.

movement of the core 23 and the parts with which it is connected. If theoperator now From one of the mains thereof a inserts more of the resistance of rheostat 41 in the circuit of the solenoid 52 the circuit through solenoid 21 will again be closed between contacts 69 and 80 and the core 23 will be given a further upward movement.

When the operator moves the contact'42 of the remote control device, back in the opposite direction, he will thereby strengthen the current through solenoid 52 causing it to I have a greater pulling effect uponits core 54 than has the solenoid 51. In this case the flexible contact 69 will bemoved against a stationary contact 85 and a circuit will there by be closed through wires 81 and 82 to the winding of solenoid 22 from whence the circuit continues through wires 83 and 84 and switch to the other main of generator 7 0. In this case the solenoid cores 23 will be pulled downward-and this will move valve l2fartheraway from its seat andwill at the same time move contact 33 over rheostat 34 until the part of the resistance thereof in circuit with solenoid 51 balances the amount causing the parts which are controlled thereby, to again come to rest.

By this simple means it is possible for an operator at any desired distance from the instrument to cause the valve 12 to be moved in either direction and to be given anydesired amount of movement.

There are but two wires between the re-- mote control device 40 and the sensitive relay 50, the latter,togetherwith the valve actuating solenoids 2.1.22 and their connected parts, may be installed within the 3 sound producing instrument itself so that it is a simple matter to remove thecontrol device 40 to any desired distance from the instrument. v

It is my intention to have the wires leading to the manual control device flexi'b-le so that the operator will be able to freely move the hand in which it is held.

The arrangement shown in.- Fig. 2 is a modified form of sensitive relay. This comprises two alternating current solenoids 51' and 52 with cores 53 and 54*.

In this case the solenoids are connected by springs 90 and 91 with the lower end of an arm 92 which is pivoted 'at 93. The upper end of this arm carries a flexible contact 94 which contacts80 or 85 to thereby close a circuit through either solenoid" 21 or solenoid 22.

is adapted to be movedagainst stationary I ance is similar to-that described in connection with Fig. 1, so that a repetition of the description of operation is not necessary. The invention is shown as applied to a talking machine or phonograph, but I do not intend to limit myself to this specific use. The sensitive relay 50 is, I believe, novel and useful in conjunction with other devices actuated by alternating currents, and I therefore do not intend to limit myself to the use to which it is shown applied in the drawings. I have illustrated several forms of certain parts of the apparatus to show that I do not limit myself to any specific form or construction and in fact intend no limitations other than those imposed by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An expression device for musical instruments comprising a movable member, an alternating current reversible motor arranged to actuate said member different desired amounts, a reversing switch comprising a pair of actuating alternating current solenoids, circuits therefor and circuit closers for the motor, said reversing switch having a movable contact and stationary contacts, a lost motion connection between said solenoids and the movable contact, a current varying device connected to be actuated by the motor an amount proportional to the movement ofsaid member, said current varying device being in one of the actuating solenoid circuits, and a remote control device comprising a manually adjustable current varying device in the other actuating solenoid circuit.

2. An expression device for musical instruments comprising a movable member, an al-- ternating current reversible motor arranged to actuate said member different desired amounts, a reversing switch comprising a pair of actuating alternating current solenoids, circuits therefor and circuit closers for the motor, said reversing switch having a pivoted arm, a contact arranged to be moved connected to be actuated by the motor an I I amount proportional to the movement of said member, said current varying device being in one of the actuating solenoid circuits, and a remote control device comprising a manually adjustable current varying device in the other actuating solenoid circuit.

3. An expression device for musical instruments comprising a movable member, an alternating current reversible motor arranged to actuate said member different desired amounts, a reversing switch comprising a pair of actuating alternating current solenoids, circuits therefor and circuit closers for the motor, said reversing'switch having a pivoted arm, a contact arranged to be moved by said arm and stationary contacts, an inverted T-shaped lever, a pin and slot connection between the vertical arm of said lever and the pivoted arm, laminated solenoid cores spaced apart and connected with the horizontal arm of the lever and vertical adjust-able springs connected with said horizontal arm of the lever supporting the lever and the solenoid cores; a current varying device connected to be actuated by the motor an amount proportional to the movement of said member, said current varying device being in one of the actuating solenoid circuits, and a remote control device comprising a manually adjustable current varying device in the other actuating solenoid circuit.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set. 

